Micro businesses urged to develop brand online

CEBU, Philippines — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-7) urged small businesses to develop their brand through social media, particularly Facebook.

DTI-7 assistant regional director Maria Elena “Nanette” Arbon made this call following the official launching of “Facebook Community Boost” initiative in Cebu.

DTI, which is one of the program’s support agencies in collaboration with Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), believes that despite the Filipinos’ “fondness” to Facebook, Pinoy micro-businesses on the other hand, still has to exploit Facebook’s ability to build their brand with less expenses.

“MSMEs [micro-small and medium entrepreneurs] have to shape up. They have to make use of online tools to grow their business,” said Arbon.

Despite the promotion of eCommerce, mobile first, among others, there are still a lot of micro and small business that are largely depending on brick and mortar.

While they have online presence, it is not yet being fully maximized, Arbon added.

She encouraged micro business and start-up companies to build their brand on social media.

Facebook Philippines country director John Rubio, together with Facebook Philippines executives, formally introduced the Facebook Community Boost initiative in Cebu.

“We’re constantly inspired by what small businesses have been able to achieve using tools on Facebook and our family of apps. We look forward to taking Facebook Community Boost events to our Philippine cities this year starting with Cebu and then Dumaguete, Manila, and Davao: Our goal is to further support even more MSMEs and communities in their digital transformation journey,” Rubio said.

Since 2017, Facebook has trained over 5,000 entrepreneurs in 21 cities across the Philippines with programs like #BoostYourBusiness and #SheMeansBusiness.

Now with Facebook Community Boost in the Philippines, Facebook bolster its commitment to helping MSMEs and communities grow with free and easy-to-use Facebook tools and digital skills training workshops.

Facebook Community Boost is a global initiative that aims to equip entrepreneurs with the tools and skills to keep up with the new mobile-first market.

According to Rubio Facebook gives people the power to build communities & bring the world closer together.

Rubio emphasized Facebook’s serious stance to promote positive social impact, at the same time protecting from harm and protecting people from harm and giving them more control over their privacy, data, and the content.

While Facebook assured safety, Arbon reiterated the need for micro businesses to boost their presence online with much lesser cost.

The two-day event, which opened yesterday, was participated in by entrepreneurs looking to get their start-up business ideas off the ground and existing local businesses and nonprofits alike participated in digital skills training designed to help them reach their target audience, maximize Facebook tools, and develop a better understanding of privacy and safety tools on the platform. (FREEMAN)